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MATHIAS (LUNDGREN) OF SOUTH MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA
This paper was originally written in September of 1974. The information was compiled from interviews with several of Mathias Lundgren’s grandchildren, Church and Bible records, as well as, census and court records. The primary source of information on the first generation of Greens was from the original Mathias (Lundgren) Green Bible, of which we made a photocopy in 1972 of the pages containing names, dates, etc. This old Bible was in the possession of Mr. Daniel Vincent “D. V.” Green (now deceased) of New Orleans, LA until 2005. The complete Bible is now lost except for the four pages containing the birth, marriage, and death information. The Bible pages are now in the possession of D. V. Green’s nephew, Clifton “Michael” Green of Jefferson, LA. Our photo copies are good with parts hard to read, but we will make them available to anyone who would like a copy.
Older family members told us that the “Green” name was originally “Lundgren.” Various spellings that we have found include Lungren, Lungreen, Longren, Longreen, etc. We have also found some of Mathias Green’s children using “L.” for their middle initial as seen in the Old Family Bible and on his son’s, Jacob Green’s, 1910 St. Bernard Parish, LA census. Various records at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis, MS, show Mathias’ middle name as “Lon” or “Lan.” Because Lundgren has two syllables, some early family members apparently thought that Lun / Lan / Lon was a middle name and Gren / Green was their last name. They said he was positively from Sweden because they called him an “old Swede,” and one family member told us he was from “Goteborg, Sweden.” His country of origin has also been mistaken as “Switzerland.” Mathias is listed in the 1850 Hancock County, MS census as born in “Switz.” A few other records of his children, also incorrectly list him as from Switzerland.
Thanks to the excellent research of Loma Schindler, wife of Warren Schindler, residing in Lake Charles, LA, we now know Mathias Lundgren’s place of birth, his parents, siblings, etc. Using Mathias’ date of birth as found in his family Bible, April 5, 1813, she learned that he was in fact bom on April 5, 1813, in Lunderhage (farm),
Fleringe (Parish / Town), Gotland (Diocese / Province), Sweden. Gotland is actually an island near the coastline of the Swedish mainland.
Her information was taken from original sources via email in Sweden in 1999, obtained from an actual relative of our Mathias (Lundgren) Green, Nina Ringbom. Nina apparently located Mathias Lundgren’s name and birth date in the Visby, Gotland,
Sweden State Archives. She also listed his parents, siblings, spouses, etc. but did not list a specific source other than “the Register Book dated September 23, 1850.” Her information was later verified and expanded by Anne Ahlstrom, a Swedish researcher with an internet site through Ancestory.com. Also helping with this research was Elizabeth Molin of Sweden. She found the “Estate” of our Mathias Lundgren’s father at the Public Archives in Visby, Sweden. This is the capital city of Gotland. She found the “Register of Estate Inventories,” dated 1851 that also names Mathias’ parents, siblings, residence, etc.
Loma also found how and when Mathias came to America. She contacted Goran Andersson a Swedish resident, and he found Mathias Lundgren in the “Seaman’s
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